New York Knicks Retired Numbers
The New York Knicks have retired 8 numbers. Each one below records who wore it, the seasons they wore it, and what earned it a place in the rafters.
Back to New York KnicksWalt Frazier
1967-1977
There is a word that gets thrown around carelessly in basketball: cool. Walt Frazier — Clyde — redefined what it meant on a court. Cool was the 36-point, 19-assist Game 7 in the 1970 NBA Finals, delivered against Jerry West without a flicker of panic to win the franchise's first championship. Born March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Frazier was the engine of Southern Illinois's 1967 NIT title before the Knicks selected him fifth overall that year. Red Holzman built an entire defensive philosophy around him.
Why #10 was retiredDick Barnett
1965-1974
Dick Barnett had a shooting form unlike anything the NBA had seen: as he released the ball, both feet kicked back and upward toward his backside, somehow producing one of the most reliable jump shots of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He called it "Fall back, baby," and opponents called it unguardable. Richard Barnett was born October 2, 1936, in Gary, Indiana, starred at Tennessee State University, and was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals in 1959 before the Knicks acquired him in 1965.
Why #12 was retiredDick McGuire/Earl Monroe
1949-1957/1971-1980
Madison Square Garden's #15 banner tells two stories at once. The New York Knicks retired the number for Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe — two eras, one number, both deserving permanent recognition. Richard Joseph McGuire, born in Queens in 1926, joined the Knicks in 1949 out of St. John's and became the team's primary playmaker in an age before assists were celebrated, earning seven All-Star selections across his career before later coaching and scouting for the franchise.
Why #15 was retiredWillis Reed
1964-1974
Before the tip-off of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Madison Square Garden fell silent as 19,500 people held their breath. Then Willis Reed, captain of the New York Knicks, limped out of the tunnel on a torn thigh muscle, scored the first two baskets, and Walt Frazier did the rest in a 113-99 win for New York's first NBA Championship. Reed Jr., born June 25, 1942, in Bernice, Louisiana, averaged 26.6 points and 21.3 rebounds at Grambling State before the Knicks drafted him in the second round in 1964; he won Rookie of the Year immediately.
Why #19 was retiredDave DeBusschere
1968-1974
The December 1968 trade that brought Dave DeBusschere from the Detroit Pistons to the New York Knicks is routinely cited as one of the most consequential deals in NBA history. New York surrendered Walt Bellamy and Howard Komives and received the missing piece of a championship puzzle; within two seasons the Knicks were champions.
Why #22 was retiredBill Bradley
1967-1977
Bill Bradley was recruited by the New York Yankees baseball organization while still in high school. He turned them down. He won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He earned a scholarship to Princeton University — not a basketball powerhouse — averaged 30.2 points per game as a junior and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University before ever playing an NBA game. By the time he joined the Knicks in 1967, two years after being drafted, Bradley had already accomplished more than most careers contain.
Why #24 was retiredPatrick Ewing
1985-2000
February 28, 2003. Madison Square Garden dimmed its lights for a man who had never given it a championship, and for once the building that booed him in the bad years had nothing in its throat but noise. Patrick Ewing walked to center court in a dark suit, and the number 33 rose toward the rafters on a banner the Knicks had decided would hang there as long as the franchise existed. He was a Seattle SuperSonic by then, then an Orlando Magic, a journeyman ending of a career that had belonged almost entirely to New York.
Why #33 was retiredRed Holzman
Coach
The banner hanging in Madison Square Garden for Red Holzman does not honor a jersey number. Coaches do not wear the same numbers as players, so the Knicks retired the number 613 — Holzman's total wins as their head coach, the most in franchise history. William "Red" Holzman was born August 10, 1920, in Brooklyn, played professionally for the Rochester Royals and Milwaukee Hawks from 1945 to 1958, and won the 1951 NBA championship with Rochester before scouting for the Knicks.
Why #613 was retired